Wedding at the family farm

A family farm serves as the setting for the tented weddings of siblings with different tastes.

Several years ago, Party Plus–Taylor Rental of Baltimore, Md., provided tents for a true farm-themed wedding—imagine hay bales, camouflage linens, and the bride and groom on ATVs.

This year, the company was contacted by that groom’s mother for another wedding—the bride this time was her daughter, who planned to use the same family farm as the setting, but desired a different design.

“The bride had visions of peach and gray, and we brought this to life with lush swags of peach and pewter satin sweeping through the ceiling of the tent,” says Lauri Dixon, Party Plus general manager. “The tables were dressed with pewter pintuck, and peach napkins adorned each place setting for a subtle touch of color. We added black padded chairs, which made the whole setting pop.”

Party Plus installed a 60-by-100-foot Century® pole tent and provided uplighting in soft peach, peach linens with a sparkly sheer overlay for the head table, a marbleized white dance floor, white padded chairs for the ceremony, and the generator and power distribution. Seven months of lead time was more than enough for this event, Dixon says.

“The installation was relatively easy since we have tented the farm before,” she says. “This year Mother Nature brought rain and high winds the week of, but nothing that could not be handled with sidewall up for set up, and sidewall down for the event, and a little re-tacking of the decor.”

While farms are more likely to offer large expanses of flat land, many backyard events for Party Plus involve tight spaces and unlevel ground.

“We run into sandy soil a lot and have to use special stakes and/or water ballasts,” Dixon says. “We run into yards with a large grade, so we erect a stage to level the area and build a party on top of that. Small spaces are overcome with small tents and small trucks.”

Dixon says that for her clients, popular requests include outdoor areas with bistro lighting, small plates, burlap linens, vintage decor and whiskey barrels used as tables for just about everything—cake, favors, beverages and buffets.

While certain decor trends dominate event themes, Party Plus proved that even in a repeat setting, every event is unique.
“You start with a blank canvas
and ‘paint’ an event,” Dixon says. “It is really a creative process and so much fun.”